Cytokines and Disease Group

Scientific Coordinator for Immunology and Infectious Diseases, African International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), Cape Town; South African Research Chair (SARChI) for Immunology of Infectious Diseases in Africa; Director, Medical Research Council Unit, Immunology of Infectious Diseases, UCT; Visiting Professor, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow; President, South African Immunology Society (SAIS); Full Member, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine & Division of Immunology, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, UCT

Our main research is focused on the understanding of host protective immune responses in relevant human diseases. Here, we are investigating important regulatory mechanisms, including pattern recognition receptors, cytokine network and cellular crosstalk during innate immunity, which may lead to subsequent adaptive immunity or failure thereof. Our strategy is centered around a 'gain of knowledge by loss of function' approach based on deficient mouse models, generated by gene targeting in embryonic stem cells. Four of the top ten WHO declared human infectious diseases are under investigations in our laboratory, including experimental mouse models for tuberculosis, leishmaniasis, trypanosomiasis as well as helminth infections, schistosomiasis among them. Further on, we have a major interest in allergic diseases, including allergic asthma with special emphasis on food-related allergies.